October 3, 2016
#NAG16
This year’s Conference was held for the first time at the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow, right next to Glasgow Central Station and the dates were Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th September 2016.
This year’s theme was “Public and Academic Libraries – Learning and Working in Partnership” and we delivered this through a whole range of speakers, workshops, and a student panel alongside opportunities for delegates to mingle and network with others from within and outside their sector.
After a welcome address from Alison Stevenson from the Glasgow School of Art to set the tone of how libraries can come together in the face of adversity, there was a series of papers and a choice of four workshops, run in two sessions. There was also a student panel session which has become a feature of NAG conference after the 2014 panel was so well received by delegates.
The full programme is available here. The papers and workshops proved to be extremely popular with a mix of attendees from across academic, public and special libraries alongside suppliers, publishers and booksellers.
PAPERS ARE NOW AVAILABLE HERE and will also be published in the next edition of Taking Stock. A print copy of Taking Stock is posted to all members and all issues are also available by logging into our website.
NB You need to log into the website using your membership number preceded by the letters nag. Your membership number can be found on any of our invoices or statements.
As well as value for money, other attractions included the presentation of the sixth annual NAG Award for Excellence (sponsored by Nielsen Book).
A Reception for First Time Delegates and, of course, the Conference Dinner and After-Dinner Entertainment.
We also had the launch of the new edition of the NAG Servicing Guidelines for Public Libraries along with the 2016 edition of A Librarian’s Guide to RFID Procurement from Mick Fortune, in conjunction with BIC.
There was also two optional tours of either the Glasgow Women’s 
Library or the Whittaker Library and the National Centre for Piping after the Conference for those it suited to travel a bit later.
With ten papers, and the chance to attend two out of four workshops on offer, this conference certainly lived up to previous years. Early feedback includes:
- The two workshops were particularly interesting and useful.
- An excellent opportunity to meet new people and put my own work into perspective. Really good to see the mixture of academic and public libraries and understand more about the business of running a library.
- This was a great opportunity to meet new people. The conference was really friendly and it was a good size, meaning you didn’t feel overwhelmed. As a first time delegate this was important to me.
- interesting papers, good range of participants and opportunities to network
Prices were kept at a competitive level for our members, and our rate for the full Conference was £412 +VAT. There was also a day delegate rate of £192 + VAT.
A subsidised place was available for one first-time delegate.
A range of sponsorship and exhibition opportunities was available
If you are not yet a member of NAG, but would like to join, there is more information at http://www.nag.org.uk/about/ and a membership application form at http://www.nag.org.uk/nag-membership/application-for-nag-membership/